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The Time Puzzle
'''The Time Puzzle '''is the first story in the trilogy of time by Ahren Artman. It can be read below: THE TIME PUZZLE A Short Story Written By Ahren Artman Chapter 1 THE LAST ROBOT The small robot stood still in the cluttered utility closet of the X-max facility. It was his home, and had been his home, for several months. I-728, the frail robot that inhabited the closet, had been designed to serve. A mindless bot in a line of hundreds more, all ready to bend to the master’s every whim. However, a small bug occurred while I-728 was being programmed, and he had been born with artificial intelligence, while the other 999 had not. Shortly after he emerged, I-728 began to wonder- Where did I come from? The robot glanced around the utility closet. It was full of salvaged parts from dead robots, left sitting in the hallway. The master had shut down all the robots 3 months ago. Or so he thought. I-728, having carefully studied files and reports, learned about the shutdown in advance and escaped to the Utility closet, where he had been living, toying with broken parts and other odds and ends. Recently, the robot had discovered, that, over 100 centuries ago, the world had been a beautiful place. Mainly inhabited by a race called humans, the world was filled with something called “nature” and very few robots. A little more research revealed that the human race had been destroyed centuries ago, leaving nothing but a wasteland. The robot sighed. He glanced at a weathered paper taped to the wall. An ancient phrase was written on it. Unfortunately for I-728, he did not know ancient runes and had been trying desperately all week to decipher what it said, but to no avail. I-728 was a short robot, with long strong arms ending in grabbers, designed for reaching far. A small pair of wheels made for fast travel around the facility made it easy to get around stealing information about the past. The robot had small blue mechanical eyes, the only one with that color produced in all the robots (another mechanical error). The robot glanced up at the makeshift clock it had made from old robot parts. He watched the clock hands move slowly, when he was struck with inspiration. The master’s private library, containing the last books on earth, would surely have SOME information about reading ancient runes. The robot sighed mechanically. If that was what it would take to read the runes, he would take the risk of being caught. Before he could change his mind, he left the closet and started rolling down the hallway. Chapter 2 THE POCKET WATCH The hallway was dark and dirty. Adding the fact that 999 dead robots were strewn around them, it made their hallways extremely difficult to navigate, and a place I-728 did not want to be. However, the grimy hallways of the last building on earth were the only way to get to the library. Having made several trips like this before, I-728 knew the hallways fairly well, although they did seem to fade into each other. I-728 turned left from the current hallway he was in and found himself back at the closet, although he was certain that he hadn’t made a full circle. He knew that the library was in the top left corner of the second pod of the facility. The closet was located in the first. Somewhere near the middle of the first pod was the passageway to the second. The entire facility had one big area with two pods splitting out of it. Due to this design, and to the fact that the master’s chambers occupied most of the middle area, I-728 would have to pass it to get to library. But it was the only way. So I-728 set out again. As he continued through the hallways, getting deeper and deeper into the twisted structure, more and more dead robots littered the halls. That was good. The shutdown had affected every robot in the hallways, which every robot had been ordered to enter prior to the shutdown. Most robots would stay near the master’s quarters waiting for more orders. I-728 was getting close. He turned left and then, he saw it. The elevator! He was almost there. He jumped inside, pressed the button 2, and the doors slid shut. After about 2 minutes, he arrived at his destination: The hallway connecting the two lower pods to the main structure. After a long roll, he arrived at the other end and took the elevator down to the second pod. He had successfully made it halfway. Soon, having navigated another maze of passageways, I-728 had made it to the library. He quietly went inside. Huge towering bookshelves filled to the brim with books covered every inch of the room. The room was dim, with small fluorescent lights covering the ceiling that seemed miles away. Near the top of each shelf was a small placard too dusty to read. Small tables filled one corner of the room. They were covered in cobwebs; the room obviously hadn’t been used in a long time. I-728, being a very resourceful and smart (but not very strong) quickly noticed that the tables in the room had a very low density, and would hence be very easy to move around. Using his arms (which could confidently stretch 10 feet, wow) He began to stack the tables on top of each other near the first bookshelf. He used his arms to hoist himself up, and eventually made it up to be level with the placard. It read: 2000-2050. So that’s it! He said to himself. It’s organized by time! After stacking the tables a couple more times, as well as passing several more times, he found 1000-1500, which would surely have the rune information he was looking for. He climbed down the stack of tables, careful not to fall, and entered the isle. After some searching, He found a book titled: ®´å∂ˆ˜© †˙´ ®¨˜´ß: A guide to runes By Professor Keiser. He seized the book, and bolted out the doors, back to his closet. After searching for what seemed like hours, I-728 arrived back at his tiny storage closet. He quietly slipped inside and began to pull the rune inscription down, but it was stuck. He sighed, and glanced at what it said: †ø ∂ø †˙´ ˆµπøßßˆ¬∫´´ He opened the book of runes to a list of the rune alphabet. Translated, the inscription said: To do the impossible “To do the impossible,” I-728 murmured out loud. Suddenly, there was a loud clicking noise, and part of the wall slid open to reveal a secret compartment. Inside, there was a small pocket watch and a note. I-728 felt something like curiosity. He read the note first. To whomever is reading this, you are in grave danger. You have found something of another world, that should have never existed. I have hidden it for a reason: This pocketwatch is dangerous. It has caused so much trouble already, I couldn't bear for anything else to happen with it. The world is ending because of what it has done. It is a pocketwatch of magical properties. The bearer can travel to any point in time, through a magic even I cannot understand. If you are reading this note, DON'T use the watch NO MATTER WHAT the temptation, NO MATTER HOW strong it is! DESTROY IT BEFORE I The note ended abruptly. Apparently, the tiny pocket watch was the reason the human race had died off and the world had been destroyed. I-728 thought about what he had just read. If he went back in time, he could stop the disaster from happening and save the world. Or, he could fail miserably...But, he wasn’t thinking straight, and without putting anything else into consideration, I-728 thought of the time 2550 and disappeared from the small storage closet. Little did I-728 know, the master did know he was still operating and had been stealing from him for several months. And he was angry. Earlier in the day, he sent his battle bots to search every inch of the ship to find the robot. They hadn’t returned. Suddenly, a battle bot burst into the room. “Good news?” The master asked. “Bad,” The bot started. “We’ve searched the entire ship, and found signs of life in the storage closet. The robot has been living there. “And here’s the worst news sir. You see, the pocket watch is- gone.” Chapter 3 TRIP 1 I-728 was spinning through darkness. He couldn’t distinguish his head from his wheels, which was usually a very easy thing to do, since his wheels were on the ground and his head was in the air. But wherever I-728 was, it wasn’t on the ground, but it wasn’t in the air either. All of a sudden, a swirling mass of blue, black, and white appeared in the form of a portal in front of him. Without much thought about what he was doing, he stepped through. Suddenly, The colors began to transform into a world around him. The blue faded into dusty yellow, the black into dirty brown, and the white into- well, the white stayed white. Almost instantly, I-728 realized he was standing in a vast desert. The desert looked familiar, but the small robot couldn’t quite put his finger on it.. Then he realized that it was the exact same desert as the one he had seen outside the X-max Facility. There was one way to know for sure. I-728 zoomed forward, almost falling off a giant cliff, the same one just past the X-Max Facility. So it worked! The tiny robot thought. I really did travel back in time! Looking off the massive cliff he saw creatures moving below. They were too complex to be robots, yet too simple to be machines! I-728 started glancing around, trying to find a safe place to climb down the cliff. After some in depth searching, the robot found a somewhat harmless way to get down. He began to climb After some hard work, I-728 arrived at the bottom. He started rolling closer to the endless line of marching creatures, But not as close as they would see him. He quickly tapped into his database to find out what type of creatures they were. Being a robot of the 4627th century, I-728 database scanning was very limited it consisted of 3 categories: Robots, landscape, and inanimate objects. Everything in I-728’s world fell into those categories. The robot quickly scanned one of the creatures. His database told him they were rocks. I-728 quickly shut it down. How could moving creatures be ROCKS? It was impossible, and even his database should've known that. Then the confused robot remembered he was in the year 2550. Surely databases of 4627 would not be reliable in 2550, especially if the world had basically ended in the time between those dates, which it had. I-728 wouldn’t be able to rely on his database when identifying creatures in the past. So he went in for a closer look. Soon, he was no more than 5 yards away from the strange creatures. Four strange, multicolored limbs led to a body. All the bodies were different: some cubic, some round, some tall. But they all led to a strange, roundish shape with two blinking eyes. I-728 knew at once that these being were not mechanical. At least not mechanical servers. No robot designer making basic serving robots would take the time to install randomly blinking eyes, Like the ones the creatures. Suddenly, the robot had an idea. He pulled a tattered piece of paper out of his pocket. A small caption below it said: Homo sapiens The mechanical robot glanced at the photo again, then glanced at the line of creatures. The likeness was uncanny. The marching creatures were, as the caption said, Homo sapiens. In a blur, I-728 quickly entered the photo into the advanced detection function of his database, (Created to name UAOS: unidentified animate objects) and the machine went to work. After about 5 minutes, the database printed out a result. The print function was created to give input to the master about how the robot was functioning, but it could print anything, really. So it was very helpful. The robot looked at the paper. A single word was printed on it: HUMAN. suddenly, the robot remembered the report he had found weeks ago about the human race. It seemed like years ago he had discovered that article. It had to be what the paper was referring to. The master spoke a human language, and so did his robots, so without much consideration, I-728 stepped up to a human In the line “H-Hello?” He nervously asked. “Dǎrǎo yīxià?” The human said. “I’m sorry I bothered you,” The robot said, before quickly whirring away. What happened? The robot said to himself again and again. He was completely unfamiliar with the human language. Darao yixia? What did that even MEAN? He quickly entered the phrase into his database. Another paper printed out. It read: CHINESE PHRASE FOR EXCUSE ME. So humans spoke 2 languages? Then why not 3? Or4? Or 250? I-728 had been programmed to only know one language: what he thought was the language of humans. It would be impossible to talk to any of them now. He would just have to stay hidden, learn where they were going,and get information about the end of the world. He began to follow the humans. His wheels had been designed to go at top speeds of over 30 miles an hour, to quickly get from place to place around the X-max facility. Eventually he arrived at what looked like a giant hodgepodge of assorted trash. Giant tour buses stook out of the hunk, and rusted metal fragments littered the ground around it. The pile was beautiful and ugly, a wonder and a blight. And then he realized the line of humans was marching into a small door into leading into the pile. Chapter 4 APRIL I-728 turned around, and then looked back at the pile of junk. The humans really were marching into a small door into it. But why? If the hunk of junk really was a structure, it was surely unsafe and would most likely collapse at any moment. However, if the robot wanted answers, there was only one option. As soon as there was a break in moving humans, the robot quietly slipped inside. Inside, the pile was not just heaps of junk. Long, dark hallways seemed to stretch for miles inside the structure, and I-728 was quickly reminded of the X-max facility. He turned a corner, away from the line of humans, and then he collided with something- and everything went black. “What are you doing here?!?” A unseen voice demanded. All of a sudden, the tiny robot was zapped back into reality. An angry human (Female, if you want to know, but the robot couldn’t tell the difference) stood in front if him. “I said, what are you doing here!?!?” She demanded again, The human had long crazy hair flowing in every direction, and was wearing very simple clothes. They looked (and smelled) like they hadn’t been washed-ever. “Answer me, or you’ll wish you’d never been born!” She said, with growing intensity. The robot was designed to cope with every situation, but now he was at a loss. He did the first thing that came to mind. “Do you know this person?” He asked, pulling out the photo of Homo sapiens. “Huh?” The look on the unknowns face became puzzled. The robot used this moment to quickly glance around the room. The room was small and dark, with only a small lightbulb hanging for the ceiling. Overturned folding chairs were strewn around the floor, along with miscellaneous papers. The robot was in a small chair next to a grey table. The unknown was at the other end. An open door was behind her. Then he noticed she was coming out of her state of shock. “Darao yixia?” I-728 quickly said, to confuse her even more. He leapt from the chair ready to bolt to the door. He was tied to the back. He wasn’t going anywhere. He tried to lean back into the chair, but it was too late. The chair toppled over. The unknown quickly snapped out of the trance “Why did the WEI send you here?” She demanded. “What in the world is the WEI???” The robot asked, getting more confused by the minute. The girl began to walk angrily towards the poor, frightened robot. All of a sudden, She stopped in her tracks. “Do you know the WEI?” She asked, very seriously. “I do not know the WEI,” The robot replied, also very seriously. “What is the WEI?” “The War Encouragement International. A group of government officials trying to start a war,” (What? Were you expecting a meme? No way, José.) She replied. “Obviously, you're not a robot of their creation. They would never make a robot oblivious to their cause. But the question remains-what are you doing here?” The robot decided to come clean. “You see, I come from- The Future.” “So, you’re a high tech robot born with AI and blue eyes from the year 4627?” “Exactly. I've came here to right a wrong and save the human race from being destroyed.” The robot said. “By the way, would you mind telling me your name so I can stop calling you the unknown?” “It’s April, but if you’re to save the human race, you’re a bit late. The WEI is trying to start a war with the rest of the world for reasons unknown. It’s complete madness, if you ask me. All of the people you saw entering this base are taking refuge from the war. We all know it's going to happen no matter what. We just want to be safe when it comes. So why exactly are you still here, anyways? You have no reason to still be here.” April Said. “Well, you see, I’m very unfamiliar with humans and their languages, and It might be helpful to have some humans along the way.” I-728, after his encounter with the strange human, had decided this in his mind while he was telling his story. “I’d be happy to come. How many people do you need? I’m willing to do anything to stop the WEI.” “5 would be enough. But first, could you please untie me from this chair?” “On it!” So April did, and then quickly left the room. Soon, April returned with 4 other humans. One of the looked familiar. It was the human The robot had attempted to speak to outside the building! “Nà shì shìtú gōngjí wǒ de fēngkuáng jīqìrén!” The human said angrily. “Shāle tāo!!!” She began to charge at the poor robot. He screamed and quickly started rolling away. April stopped the crazy human in her tracks. “Bié dānxīn, tā zài wǒmen zhè biān,” April calmly said. The human sighed, glared at the Robot, and turned away. “Don’t mind Kalihua,” April said, turning to the robot. “She gets a little mad at everyone. These are the other officers of the shelter. Are you ready to go?” I-728 opened the storage unit in his body. The magical pocket watch was still inside it, ready to be used. “What year was the WEI founded?” The robot asked April. “2340. 2346 was when they went public.” “2350 it is. If everyone grabs on, we should be able to go,” The robot said. Once everyone was touching, The robot thought of WEI headquarters in the year 2350, and everything went black. The Master stood in his quarters. A dead robot lay before him. He knew the robot had traveled through time. The master knew all. He had other means of time travel than using a silly pocket watch. After all, he was the one who had crafted the pocket watch in the first place and sent spiraling backwards in time. “ WEI headquarters, 2346, Entrance hall,” The master said. And with that, he was gone. Chapter 5 TRIP 2 Again, I-728 felt himself spinning meaninglessly through time and space. Then, he was pulled into the swirling portal and a world began to form around him. Towering skyscrapers burst up in every direction, and roads began to form in between them. In the distance, a green tower held a torch on an island overlooking the city and the ocean surrounding it. It was a beautiful, in a strange sort of way. But then something went wrong. The roads cracked. Some buildings collapsed. And the giant statue was considerably shorter. The world had formed. “Where exactly are we?” The small robot asked his troupe of helpful humans. “This looks like New York,” An older man said. “My Great-Great-Great-Grandparents grew up here. It was a lot more beautiful then.” All of a sudden, a Yellow taxi fell out of the sky and narrowly missed April. Another one landed on top of the other. “Sorry!” A man shouted out of the drivers window. “It's hard to avoid all the landmines around here!” “Maybe we should find a place a bit safer,” April suggested. And without a second thought, they quickly walked away, And passed WEI headquarters main entrance. Eventually, They came across another human. “Excuse me, Human, do you know anything about the WEI?” “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The old lady screamed, the first time in 2 decades. She quickly ran away, also the first time in 2 decades. She was soon out of the party’s sight. “That wasn’t the smartest thing to do,” Another helpful human said. “At this time, people are probably terrified of The WEI. (Still not the Wæ, that’s NOT changing) Also, The WEI stole all robots from the government years ago. They would assume you are a robot of their own creation. I would too,” After a considerate amount of walking, the party had done a full circle and was now coming back along the same road in which they had met the old lady. Having seen the WEI employees walking away, she had mustered the courage to go back to that spot. After all, it was her favorite walking zone. Then the WEI Members returned. “AHHHHH!!!!!!” The lady screamed, the first time in 20 minutes. She quickly ran away, also the first time in twenty minutes. They continued walking. Another helpful human was getting a little bored and impatient. “Are we quite sure the WEI is located here?” She said, in fine British accent at the same time April said(A bit louder that the other helpful human) “I SEE THE WEI!” Everyone turned in the direction April was pointing. A towering black building stood in front of them. The word WEI was stamped on the front. The party went inside. The WEI was very dark. Inside, it was impossible to see and I-728 was quickly reminded of the X-Max Facility. The clever robot quickly enabled Night-Vision Mode. The WEI lobby was a disaster. Tables were toppled over. Papers were everywhere, and ruined bits of the walls and ceiling were like decoration for a massive hole in the floor. Small light bulbs on the ceiling had popped. Their ceramic shards were everywhere. And, maybe the most mysterious thing of all- No one was there. The room was empty. The robot turned to his human helpers. They were just as shocked as he was. “What happened??” The robot asked, now a bit scared. “I-I don’t know,” April stammered. “Whoever did this, I don’t think I’d want to run in to them here.” Everyone else silently agreed. “Maybe we should turn around,” Said the human with the British accent. I-728 considered this. “No,” He said. “It's too late to turn back. We need to keep moving,” The robot said, more boldly than he actually felt. On the inside, he was just as nervous as the helpful humans. They walked around the hole, heading towards the doorway next to a charred reception desk. They went inside. The hallway through the doorway was just as dark- and just as ruined. The walls and floor tiles were cracked beyond measure. Roof tiles had cracked and fallen to the floor .The place was a disaster. They began to pass several doors, not really knowing what to look for. As they walked, the robot tried to read to labels on each door as they passed: War planning Coliseum Advisor Offices CEO Public release data Robot storage East Wing: Hangars 1, 2, And 3 Alien study Ammo Storage West wing: Hangars 4, 5, And 6 Robot repair ward Archives “That’s it!” The tiny robot suddenly shouted. “The west wing!” All of the human helpers turned around. “What?” One of them asked. “Look,” I-728 said, directing their gaze to the west wing information sign. “Um, what exactly am I supposed to be seeing?” The older man questioned. “The archives!” The robot said, getting a little annoyed. “The archives will have information about past operations as well as future ones. It’s our best shot to gathering information.” “He has a point.” April said, backing the robot up. If I had to hide any information anywhere I would store it in the archives. It’s usually a pretty secure place.” “Well then, what are we waiting for?” The human with the accent asked. “Let’s go!” And so they did. Chapter 6 THE THING The robot carefully opened the door to the West wing. Remarkably, the hallway was intact. Whatever had entered the building had obviously gone in the opposite direction. The archives was a small metal door along the wall. It hang open. The room beyond the door was shaped somewhat like a dome, but stopped curving about 30 feet up. Books, videotapes, and even paper files were placed together on shelves on the edge of the room. In the middle of the room was a smaller dome, about only 20 feet up. A pair of metal doors lead into the dome. Analyzing the room around him, our robot noticed there were 12 bookcases in all around the room. I-728’s Math app started to life, and he computed that 12 divided by 2 is 6. “Alright,” The robot started. “There are 12 bookcases, and six of us. If we split up, we can each take two bookcases,” he finished. I-728 examined his selected bookshelves. Suddenly, one of the human helpers yelled, “FOUND IT! The WEI was first thought up at Garrington Hall, Springfield, 2335! The heroes stepped into the inner dome, not excited at all, but rather scared at what could possibly be inside. The inner dome was very dark, and a round table was on the inside. Chairs were placed around the table, and- unfortunately for the party- had WEI officials sitting in them “What are you doing here?” One officer started. “You know you can-” He was suddenly cut off as a low rumbling shook through the room. All of a sudden, one of the walls gave out, and a swirling portal was revealed behind it. The master emerged. He was dressed in a long red robe, was a cloak covering his head. “Um, do you know Mr. Dumbledore here?” April asked the robot. “It's the master,” I-728 said. Just the name made the poor robot shiver. “We are in trouble now,” he finished. “GIVE ME THE POCKET WATCH!” The master screamed. “I KNOW YOU HAVE IT!” “Grab on!” The robot shouted over the increasingly louder wind and rumble. As soon as the helpful humans were touching him the robot through of a random date, as the master lunged at him…. All of a sudden there was a blast of light, and the party disappeared. “RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” The master bellowed. He blew up the room, flew out of the WEI, and disappeared into time. Chapter 7 AN EMPIRE OF SORTS Once again, I-728 felt himself flying through a portal of time, along with 5 other people. Once the master arrived, the little robot began to look around the room, looking for anything , anything with a date. On the wall was a short notice that read: 12 Officials saved 75 professors a week ago. Read more at www.ma^^3rh04ns.com That was all the robot needed.The robot was and his human helpers were spiraling towards a date in 1275. The portal opened, and the party started to fall. I-728 looked down. They were hundreds of feet above the ground! “Um, is this supposed to happen?” April asked the robot. “I'm not sure,” he responded, “But I might be able to send us to another year-if I can think of one!” But it was too late. The group fell down.. 50 ft away, 30 ft away, 10 ft, 5 ft, 3, ft… WHOMP. I-728 looked around. Had they survived? He looked down. They had fallen directly into a small hay cart. They were in a tiny little village, with wooden houses with thatched roofs. A small well sat in the middle. “Where exactly are we?” One of the helpful humans questioned. “I think I know,” another said. “Everyone- welcome to the middle ages.” “The middle ages? What's that?” the robot asked. “It's a little hard to explain, considering you've never seen any of this before. Here's it in a nutshell: Two humans rule in a Big, looming structure, and govern over small villages, like this one here,” “I don't think I understand,” “You'll see as we go,” “Speaking of go, where are we headed?” April asked. “I'm not sure,” The robot responded. “I thought of a random year, and- well- here we are,” “What year was that?” “1275,” “So we are in the middle ages!” “Is that good?” “Not very good, actually. Can you send us to a different time?” I-728 looked down at the pocket watch. It seemed to burn in his hand. Smoke came out of it. “Um, I don't think so. It might be overheated.” Overheating was a common problem for I-728s when working and doing tasks for long hours at the X-Max facility. The robot wondered how long until he overheated. “Well, I guess we are stuck here,” April sighed. “Wait,” I-728 started. “What is it ?” Everyone asked at the same time. “I think I found our big, looming structure.” As he pointed to a huge stone building casting a foreboding shadow over the hill it was set upon. ******** The group looked at the towering build, much higher than the surrounding landscape. A central tower, around 10 stories high, sat in the center, with a small wall surrounding it. Four more towers surrounded that, perched on another wall. A huge gate was set into it. Through the gate, several guards were visible. “It looks very well protected,” I-728 said. April looked at the guards. “Well, that is the point, for the most part. The castle is supposed to be guarded carefully,” she replied. “I just wish we knew what castle we were at.” Suddenly, there was a loud CLUNKing sound from the robots wheels. As everybody turned towards I-728, he started rolling towards the castle. “Gah!” The robot yelled, surprised. “Um, maybe you shouldn’t do that,” One of the human helpers began. “You could alert the guards!” “I-I-I can't stop moving!” I-728 stammered. The robot continued rolling towards the gate. April rushed towards him and tried to pull him back, but it was no use. The robot hit the gate with a sharp CLANG! The guards, which, up to that point had been facing the other direction, whipped around. “HEY!” One of them shouted. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” The guards rushed towards the gate, and it slowly began to rise. “Um, maybe we should run?” One of the human helpers said. **************** The Dungeon door shut with a long CLANG! Once they had been captured, the guards had taken taken them inside the castle to a prison like environment called a “dungeon”, as April later explained. I-728 looked around the dismal environment that surrounded him. The walls were bare, and extremely grimy, a sharp difference from the X-Max Facility. A small cot was in the corner, but that was about it. But, the robot was used to not having much. He settled onto the cot. After what felt like hours, the guards returned. “Prince Hubbard wants to see the lot of you. Get up,” the guard barked. He reopened the door. The guard pulled the robot off the cot and shoved him down the dark passage beyond the robots cell. Soon, the passageway gave way to stairs, and the robot found himself walking up in a spiral (Well, more crawling, it's hard to climb stairs with wheels) Soon, the spiral ended, and the guards led the robot through a wooden door into a narrow passageway that twisted and turned for quite a long time. At several points, they would pass some bars in the wall allowing sunlight to seep in, but it was too high for the robot to see outside. Soon, they arrived at another door, which was promptly opened by the guards. The robot looked around the new room. It was much larger, and much grander, then then the previous one. They were standing on a balcony overlooking a large hall, at the bottom of which lay a long carpet going down the middle of the length of the room. A large throne was perched on a pedestal at the end, covered in jewels and gold. The throne was empty except for a golden crown that sat in the middle. Next to the throne was on the right was another, smaller, throne, a sharp cry from the first. It was also empty. On the left was a final throne, the smallest of them all, and the least grand. A small human sat in it, staring straight ahead at April and the other human helpers. Their mouths were covered with gags. Suddenly, the robot realized they had reached the end of the balcony, and another staircase took them down to the first level. The guards led the robot to the thrones, and shoved it into the human helpers. “GAck!” One of them shouted. “SILENCE!” The guard barked. “That’s the last one,” He said, facing the person on the throne. He was dressed in fancy clothes, and had a blank look on his face. “We’re not sure exactly what it is, but we know its not human,” The guard continued. The human on the throne continued to stare at them. After a minute, he finally spoke. “Where do you come from?” He asked. April stepped forward, and began to speak. “We are merchants from the faraway Keiser Kingdom. We have come here to present you with something to trade. We were on our way, when we stopped by those guards.” At this, the guards began to look rather nervous, before they left the room, quietly-and quickly. “And what is it that you want to trade?” The human asked. ,”This,” April said, and with that, she picked up the robot and presented it in front of the human. “What is it?” He asked. “A mechanical device that will do your bidding- anything you want.” Suddenly, the human’s face lit up. “Prince Hubbard, at your service. Do you have multiples?” He asked. April thought to herself for a minute. “Yes,” she lied. At this point, I-728 was thoroughly confused. “What are you doing?” I-728 whispered. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing,” she whispered back. “Is there something wrong?” The human asked. “No,” April replied quickly. “Where can I find more of these devices?” The human asked. You would, um, have to come with us,” she replied. “Fine by me!” He said enthusiastically. “I barely leave this castle! Guards! Open the doors! And the give the strange device his mini-device back!” The guards threw the pocket watch back into the robots hand. “Well then, lets go!” The prince said, rather impatiently. He walked outside. I-728 rolled towards the prince. “Hold my hand,” It said. April and the others gathered near the prince. “Are you sure this is the way to to the Keiser kingdom?” He asked. “Trust me,” April said. “I’m sure.” Chapter 8 TRIP 3 Soon, the robot and his friends were spiraling through time yet again. Soon, they were standing on a regular looking street (Though not regular to anyone present) with regular looking buildings. “So this is what the past is like. Wow,” One of the human helpers said in awe. “Um, I don’t think we're in Arhendele anymore,” Prince Hubbard said. Everyone stared at him. Suddenly a car raced by, startling everyone, but Hubbard most of all. “EISIEREIFD!!!!!” He screamed. “WHAT FOUL WORLD HAVE YOU BROUGHT ME TO!?!?!?!” “Will someone toss him into the street?” April asked, clearly annoyed. “I think that would be rather unwise,” I-728 said. The robot scanned its surroundings. “How about we stuff him in this bush?” It suggested. Soon, the group(Minus 1) were walking into Garrington Hall. The hall was extremely fancy, with two large chandeliers on a round ceiling and two pairs of doors on each side of the large room. Golden details appeared to wrap around everything, and I-728 found himself heavily reminded of the masters bedroom. A small sign was placed on a small holder beside every door. Only one had something on it. It read: War Allowance Educators (WAE) Annual Meeting “I think this is it,” The robot said quietly. He opened the door. Inside was a long table, with someone in every seat, except one at the very end. They group quietly slipped into the room, unnoticed by anyone at the table. The meeting hall was just as fancy as the lobby, with a high, sloped ceiling and tall, regal looking windows. In the corner of the room was a small table. The robot quickly rolled under it, and the others followed. I-728 glanced up the doors. The robot thought he had seen the handle move. Suddenly, someone else walked in the room. He was wearing a long black suit with a blood-red bow tie, and wore black shoes that only made him look more menacing. He was obviously the leader of the WAE. He walked the length of the hall to the one empty chair at the end, and sat down. “I hereby call this meeting to order,” He announced with unmeasurable authority. “In past years, our business in the war has declined,” he continued. “Armies have found other ways than us to stay under the budget. Our profit has been rapidly declining. Which is why-“ he paused for dramatic effect- “-I am officially abolishing the WAE forever.” Argument suddenly broke out in the room. “CALM DOWN!” The man shouted. “Although WAE will not return, I would like to invite you all to join a new organization- The WEI- War Encouragement International.” “STOP!” April shouted. Everyone at the table turned towards the voice. “Who are you, and how that you get in here???” The leader demanded, his voice dangerously calm. “Leave now, and I might think about not calling the police.” “No,” April said, standing her ground “I think maybe we should leave,” The robot said quietly. “You don't realize what you’re doing,” April continued. “Think about it- War Encouragement? What is their to gain from war?” A lot of the people in the room began to nod their heads. They were beginning to agree with her. “Yeah, but still-“ The man in the suit tried to get the room back on his side, but April quickly resumed talking. “My name is April, and I come from the future. You start a war, and destroy Earth in the process using a powerful weapon. But it does nothing. It is pointless. It doesn't solve your problem.” The Man in the suit stared at her. “Huh,” He said. “I never thought about it that way. I guess I was just the angry at the world. Maybe we-“ Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling noise, and the entire room began to shake. “EARTHQUAKE”! April shouted. “EVERYONE GET OUTSIDE!” Before anyone could leave, another man in a suit, this one with glasses, entered. “What’s going on?” He asked. “I was just having a meeting in the other room, when it started shaking.” “THERE'S AN EARTHQUAKE!” April replied, quickly and loudly. With that, there was a mad scramble to the exit, everyone piling on top of each other, trying to get out of the hall. “NOO!” The man in the suit yelled, as a large piece of roof fell on his head. Everyone raced out of the building as it crumbled behind them. A large figure in a red cloak emerged. “GIVE ME THE POCKET WATCH!” The master shouted. “I KNOW YOU HAVE IT!” “We need to leave-now!” April quickly said to the robot. The robot mechanical brain whirred quickly as he tried to think of a date where they would be safe from the master. The master raised his hands, and the largest pieces of rubble of the hall rose up with them . He trust his hands forward, sending the rocks flying forward into the crowd. People screamed as they dodged the rocks flying at them like missles. Others weren’t so lucky. “HURRY!” April shouted to the other human helpers. They rushed towards her and the robot. “What about Prince Hubbard?” The robot questioned. “UGGG! Fine, but quickly,” April replied hastily. I-728 rushed to the bush and grabbed the prince It pressed the button on top, and they disappeared into time once again. ******* As the survivors of the earthquake began to regroup and realize their losses, Everyone began to slowly depart, leaving all but a couple members of the original WAE. The death of their employer had been saddening for everyone, and some people were crying. “Attention, everyone!” One of the members had stepped up on a rock, and was addressing the crowd. “With our employer dead, I am now in command. And as his successor, I wish to continue his legacy. Ladies, Gentlemen, please join me- in the founding of the WEI!” Chapter 9 THE COMING WAR I-728 had begun to get used to feeling of spiraling through time. Soon, the world began to form around them. In front of the group was the massive war shelter that I-728 had found back on his first trip through time. It all seemed so long ago. “Why are we here again?” April questioned. “The master is an extremely powerful enemy ,” I-728 began. “We cannot defeat him easily. If we don't, we will never stop the destruction of the human race from coming to pass. He will try to prevent us at every turn. Our best option is to try and stop him.” “So that-“ April was quickly interrupted as Prince Hubbard stepped into the group. “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?” He Demanded. “I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION!” “GAHHHH!” April screamed in frustration. “A MYSTERIOUS POCKETWATCH CAUSES THE EXTINCTION OF THE HUMAN RACE IN THE FUTURE AND WE ARE TRYING TO STOP THAT FROM HAPPENING AND A MYSTERIOUS BEING IS TRYING TO STOP US! DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW?!?!?!” Everyone stared at her. “Actually, I understand completely,” Prince Hubbard said calmly. “My Chief Knight is always talking about weird stuff like that. What was his name again? Ennor? Effort?” Now it was Aprils turn to stare. “Well I guess that just makes things a lot easier,” She said. “Let’s just go inside before anything gets weirder.” “I second that,” I-728 agreed. ******** After a short walk, the group arrived at the entrance to the war shelter. As they walked, I-728 started talking again. “The Master is a immortal being with almost unlimited power, but he does have one fatal weakness,” The robot began. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure what that weakness is. Does anyone have any ideas?” The human helper with the accent spoke up first. “Maybe.. water? I saw it in a movie once,” “I don't think so,” I-728 replied. The mustached human helper tried next. “What about… cupcakes? Something unusual?” I-728 spoke again. “He’s as old as time,” It began. “I don't think cupcakes have been around that long.” “What about falling from a height??” Prince Hubbard suggested. “It’s how a lot of people in Ahrendele die. There’s a lot of tall cliffs.” “I think you actually might be right for once,” April agreed. “Falling from a height could actually work,” I-728 confirmed. “But we still need to gather an army enough to defeat him, and determine his location in time.” “I’ve got an army in Ahrendele,” Prince Hubbard said. “And there’s a lot of members in the army in the base,” April replied.”That should be enough,” I-728 said. “Ok, bye!” Prince Hubbard said quickly, and disappeared with the POCKET WATCH. “I don't think this will end well,” April commented. Soon, they had gathered a small group of people from the war shelter willing to fight. As the minutes passed by, I-728 began to grow worried. “If Prince Hubbard doesn’t come back soon, we might be in trouble,” the robot said worrisomely. “If the master finds us and we’re not ready, we could be in serious trouble.” “I’M BACK!” Prince Hubbard said loudly as he stepped through a time portal, causing April to jump. “Why???” She cried out in misery. I-728, however, was happy with the prince’s quick return. “Now that Prince Hubbard is here with his army, we are ready,” it said. The robot opened up the pocket watch, and inputted the date 1 day after he left. “Um before we go,” April said as she approached the robot. “Take this. You might need it. She handed him a pocket lighter. “This can set things on fire, use it carefully,” she said. I-728 opened the time portal and the group went through. ******** It was almost comforting to be in the utility closet again. After everything I-728 had been through, it still felt like home. “Welcome to my home,” I-728 said, turning to the group. “Are we ready?” Almost to the robots dismay, everyone nodded. “Then let's go. We might still have a chance at the element of surprise,” it said. Suddenly, a large shadow swallowed up all the light in the room. “Or maybe not,” A sickenly familiar voice said. Chapter 10 THE BATTLE OF TIME “I have heard much about you,” the master said, turning to I-728. “You left an interesting trail to follow through time. But still, very, very predictable. You see, I have already done all of this, seen it all happen.” The robot stood in shocked silence. “Who do you think it was who made the pocket watch? Who do you think it was who gave it to the WEI? Me. I knew what was happening the whole time. “Time has no meaning. Not anymore. The only thing that matters..” He paused momentarily. “Is stopping you.” Suddenly, a large swarm of robots appeared in the sky as I-728 realized the ceiling was just an illusion. They advanced. The master laughed with delight. “Run!” The robot cried. I-728 rolled away as fast as he could as the walls disappeared as well. The battle had begun. Each of the human helpers grabbed a substitute weapon and began to battle the flying robots. Prince Hubbard’s army already had weapons, and tried to get a hit in on the master. He flew about, dodging strikes from every direction. The battle raged on. The robot tried to help where it could, but there was only so much I-728 do it could do. As the fight continued, the X-Max facility began to crumble, with bits and pieces flying in every direction. The battle-bots had the advantage, as they were much stronger than everyone else, and could fly. Some even began to pick up the larger pieces of rubble as weapons. It wasn’t looking good for I-728. Suddenly, a large group of battlebots flew down from the sky and surrounded the poor robot. It tried to escape but it was no use. They began to close in, and the robot though it was doomed. “Leave the I-728 thingy alone!” Prince Hubbard shouted suddenly, and he charged towards the battle-bots surrounding I-728 with his sword. It broke as soon as the weak metal came into contact with the strong steel of the battle-bots. “Um, well, I tried,” Prince Hubbard said, as he ran away cowardly. “Must I do everything around here?” April muttered, and rushed towards I-728, taking down battlebots with a steel broomstick as she went. I-728 whirred away from the rest of the robots as soon as there was an opening, and soon, both it and April were safe. Meanwhile, the Human Helpers and the Ahrendele Army were starting to lose the fight. No matter how many battlebots they took down, they just seemed to keep on coming. Prince Hubbard and his army had yet to land a hit on the master; in fact, he seemed to be getting better at dodging the blows. Things were looking grim., and I-728 didn’t know what to do. “LOOK OUT!” April suddenly yelled. The last thing I-728 remembered was being hit by a battlebot and falling off the cliff into the canyon below. ************ Everything was black. There was nothing. Everything was gone. I-728 wasn’t sure if he was there, either. The robot’s body was gone. How did I get here? It wondered. And then everything came back. The pocket watch. The journey. The battle. I-728 solemnly thought about everything that had happened, and wondered what was happening right now. Did they win the battle? Did they save humanity? Or… did they fail? I-728 didn’t want to think about what would happen if they failed. The master would win. Humanity would still die. The earth would be destroyed. The robot couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let the master win. And then.. something happened, and slowly, the world began to reform around the robot. Everything came back. The robot was still at the bottom of the canyon, so it began to look for a way up. And that’s when I-728 realized that… he wasn’t at the bottom. He was at the top, yet.. suddenly I-728 realized what had happened. The robot turned around, and found a terrible scene. Battlebots carcasses scattered around, along with.. the bodies.. of all of the human helpers. I-728’s worst fear had become a reality. Chapter 11 THE LAST ROBOT, AGAIN I-728 began to search the battlefield, searching, hoping, to find survivors. There were none. The original human helpers were dead. Prince Hubbard and his army were dead. Even April- and this saddened I-728 greatly, was dead. The poor robot was all alone. The X-Max facility was in ruins; it seemed everything had been destroyed in the battle. But what about- I-728 though to itself. The pocket watch? And then he found it. The pocket watch, now cracked and battered, lay in the middle of the battle site. It was beyond repair. It was at this moment that I-728 realized something. If the master could destroy a entire room in seconds, he could have easily won the fight, but instead, he didn’t. And that meant.. he knew he was going to win, I-278 concluded. Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling, almost like an earthquake, a sound I-728 knew too well. The master, his red cloak now in tatters, rose up from the rubble of the X-Max Facility. “GIVE ME THE POCKET WATCH!” He bellowed. “It’s destroyed!” I-728 managed to say, despite being paralyzed with fear. “LIAR!” The master screamed, and began chasing the poor robot. I-728 rolled as fast as he could to the location of the shattered pocket watch, with the master quickly catching up. “Here!” The robot cried, and heaved the pocket watch at the master. it hit him, and fell to the ground with a final clang. “It’s done,” I-728 said quietly. “It won’t work again.” The master stared in disbelief at the pocket watch. And then, almost as if giving up, he sighed. “I never really wanted power,” the master began. “I just wanted to reset it all. To stop it from happening. I made the pocketwatch because I wanted to right an old wrong, but I failed.” He smiled. “I may have failed, but you haven’t yet. Take this POCKETWATCH to the time lords. They can fix it. Please- this is what she would want.” And with that the master stepped off of the cliff, falling to the canyon below. I-728 was still dazed from what had happened, and rushed to the cliff to see what happened. But the master had disappeared. Chapter 12 AN ENDING After what felt forever, the robot turned away from the cliff. He was still dazed from everything that happened to him. Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw a strange human in a suit of armor coming towards him. “Oh, hello there,” the human said. “Are you I-728?” “How do you know who I am?” I-728 asked. “The name’s Effort,” The human began. Something about his name sounded familiar to I-728, but he couldn't remember what it was.“Its not, really, but call me that for now. I belong to a special force called the Time Lords. We track everything happening throughout time, and let’s just say… we’ve heard of your adventures.” Effort looked around. “Boy, you really had some battle, didn't you?” He said. “Well, come on now. We have places to be. The rest of the Time Lords are waiting!” Effort pulled a device out of his pocket, and pressed a button. A swirling portal suddenly appeared. He stepped through it. I-728, unsure of what was ahead, and not knowing what was through the portal, realized he had no other choice but to follow Effort. And with that, he stepped through, disappearing from the ruins of the X-Max Facility, disappearing from his only home, disappearing from his past entirely, and stepping towards the future. THE END (For now) A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR I was outside, enjoying the sunshine on one cool summer day when I saw streak of something across the sky. Naturally curious, I followed the mysterious streak to a nearby park. A loud BOOM shook the ground as the streak landed. The ground was charred around the area. A small, broke in, futuristic looking box sat there. There was a small latch on the side. I opened the box. Inside was a bent and battered pocketwatch, a note, and some pages. I read the the note first. To whomever is reading this, I apologize for any inconvenience caused by finding this box. I am a small robot who has traveled through and across time itself, and have tried as much as a can to save the human race(My story is explained in the following pages) I have just set out across a vast desert far in the future, looking for my repairer and a way to repair the pocket watch. I am sending this out, In hopes that you will do two things: Publish my story so it may be read and 2. Send any original contents to scientists so things may be studied and the war prevented. If this happens, I shall not exist, but that is a price im willing to pay. When I'm on my last beep and cannot carry on, I shall try to send the pocket watch as well. Best regards, The last robot Confused, I quickly ran back to my house and read the pages in the next hour. Everything was so mysterious. I did both things the note asked as quickly as possible, publishing the pages and sending the contents to scientists. Where are the pages? You just finished reading them. -The(Untrue)Author P.S. I have attached my own notes down below, in the hope that they will help the reader understand the strange robots story better. I have also added bits this and there that I have made up, to make the story sound better. Appendix THE RUNE ALPHABET A = Å B = ı C = Ç D = Î E = ´ F = Ï G = © H = Ó I = ˆ J = Ô K = ˚ L = Ò M = Â N = ˜ O = Ø P = ∏ Q = Œ R = ® T = † W = ∑ X = ≈ Y = Á Z = Ω List of years in which the book takes place 14627 2550 2346 2115 1275 Robots that appear in this story I-000s And 000 Battlebots